Comments for Steve's Audio Bloghttps://stevefolberg.wordpress.com
Adventures In AudiophiliaThu, 08 Mar 2018 16:26:13 +0000hourly1http://wordpress.com/Comment on Entering The Parallel Audio Universe, Part IV: The iBasso DX80 Digital Audio Player by rebbi1https://stevefolberg.wordpress.com/2016/10/25/entering-the-parallel-audio-universe-part-iv-the-ibasso-dx80-digital-audio-player/#comment-627
Thu, 08 Mar 2018 16:26:13 +0000http://stevefolberg.wordpress.com/?p=3086#comment-627I am still using my DX80 and enjoying it. I did run into a failing battery problem that was a known issue with some early production units. Fortunately, at least here in the States, iBasso provided free warranty replacements and the new battery has been fantastic – it’ll hold a charge for weeks and weeks without a recharge. So I’m a happy camper there.
I am still using the M200’s as my primary IEM. I even picked up a back up pair on a close-out price (I believe KEF discontinued them). I love the way they sound, although the clunkiness of the rubber ear hooks sometimes gets on my nerves.
I’ve been sorely tempted to try a pair of the new, lower cost Audeze iSine IEM’s – they are supposed to be fantastic sounding but given their open back design I don’t know how practical they are unless you are listening in private in a quiet room.
Thanks for the post and sorry for the long delay in responding!
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Mon, 05 Feb 2018 19:55:41 +0000http://stevefolberg.wordpress.com/?p=3086#comment-607Steve, thanks for your review. I also bought M200 at a discounted price and it made a happy pairing with DX80! My favorite combo (after Lear LHF-AE1d MKii).

Still, some time has passed – so, may I know if you’re still using DX80 and if you’ve found some additional IEMs to use with it?

]]>Comment on Enlightened Engineering, Musical Magic: The Spatial M3 Turbo S Open Baffle Speaker System by Henry Grossbardhttps://stevefolberg.wordpress.com/2017/11/08/enlightened-engineering-musical-magic-the-spatial-m3-turbo-s-open-baffle-speaker-system/#comment-590
Fri, 17 Nov 2017 23:25:04 +0000http://stevefolberg.wordpress.com/?p=4265#comment-590ESS also has a speaker with an AMT that has an 800hz crossover. Curious if Rebbi1 is going to switch to the triode model?
]]>Comment on Enlightened Engineering, Musical Magic: The Spatial M3 Turbo S Open Baffle Speaker System by rebbi1https://stevefolberg.wordpress.com/2017/11/08/enlightened-engineering-musical-magic-the-spatial-m3-turbo-s-open-baffle-speaker-system/#comment-588
Wed, 15 Nov 2017 17:58:57 +0000http://stevefolberg.wordpress.com/?p=4265#comment-588Interesting, thanks. You know, I’ve always been sort of interested in the Pure Audio Project products. In fact, if I had more disposable income, I would buy one of them. But, as you say, there’s almost too much choice there and it’s hard to know what the best choice would be. On the other hand, I love the do it yourself aspect of it all. Thanks, as always, for posting!
]]>Comment on Enlightened Engineering, Musical Magic: The Spatial M3 Turbo S Open Baffle Speaker System by Ronhttps://stevefolberg.wordpress.com/2017/11/08/enlightened-engineering-musical-magic-the-spatial-m3-turbo-s-open-baffle-speaker-system/#comment-587
Wed, 15 Nov 2017 17:40:53 +0000http://stevefolberg.wordpress.com/?p=4265#comment-587Upon Further Reflection…..The whole AMT thing tweaked my interest as I’ve always really liked the sparkle and dimensionality that well done AMTs provide. Check out this link http://www.pureaudioproject.com/trio10-open-baffle-speakers/ As it turns out, Heil, Mundorf and Beyma all make AMTs that cross pretty low and might fill the bill for Clayton’s designs/voicing… although probably for an upcharge. I could see Spatial offer an M3 with different tweeter options at different price points. One downside to that though…and you will experience it with the pure audio website…there are so many options that it is easy to get confused/paralyzed as to what option might be most to your liking. There is a lot to be said for “make it musical and keep it simple”.
]]>Comment on Enlightened Engineering, Musical Magic: The Spatial M3 Turbo S Open Baffle Speaker System by rebbi1https://stevefolberg.wordpress.com/2017/11/08/enlightened-engineering-musical-magic-the-spatial-m3-turbo-s-open-baffle-speaker-system/#comment-586
Mon, 13 Nov 2017 17:20:11 +0000http://stevefolberg.wordpress.com/?p=4265#comment-586Ron, very helpful, thanks.
]]>Comment on Enlightened Engineering, Musical Magic: The Spatial M3 Turbo S Open Baffle Speaker System by Ronhttps://stevefolberg.wordpress.com/2017/11/08/enlightened-engineering-musical-magic-the-spatial-m3-turbo-s-open-baffle-speaker-system/#comment-585
Mon, 13 Nov 2017 16:42:20 +0000http://stevefolberg.wordpress.com/?p=4265#comment-585I’d like to make two comments. Clayton told me that the M3 & M4 sound virtually the same with the difference being low end extension. The M4 is for smaller rooms that would be overloaded with the 15″ transducers.

As for the M2 AMT, if you look at the size of the AMT unit in this link (photo at the bottom of the page) http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=153006.0 , its a big unit and probably has to be in order to cross over below 1000hz. I would not be shocked if they cost $1000 a pair…which makes me think its unlikely that they can make it to the M3/M4 based on cost alone.

]]>Comment on Enlightened Engineering, Musical Magic: The Spatial M3 Turbo S Open Baffle Speaker System by rebbi1https://stevefolberg.wordpress.com/2017/11/08/enlightened-engineering-musical-magic-the-spatial-m3-turbo-s-open-baffle-speaker-system/#comment-584
Mon, 13 Nov 2017 16:05:29 +0000http://stevefolberg.wordpress.com/?p=4265#comment-584Hi, Henry!
Thank you for the thoughtful post.
You make a good point about the limits of my comparison between the M4 and the M3, since I did not have access to the solid-state amplifier when I owned the M4‘s. It would be interesting to see how much/if the gap in performance between the two models narrowed if they had both been driven with the Krell amp.
As per speaker break in, it’s precisely because some people buy the idea and some people don’t that I included that section in the review. In my experience, it’s a real phenomenon, but, as I said, how noticeable it is has, in my experience, varied depending upon the speaker and the underlying technology. For example, I once owned a single driver loudspeaker that was supposed to improve with break-in, but no matter how many hundreds of hours I ran it, I never found the less than satisfactory aspects of its performance to improve. As for your question about why speaker manufacturers don’t break them in at the factory, some manufacturers do. Years ago, for example, when I owned Merlin monitors, the designer, the late Bobby Palkovic, used to run all his speakers on a break-in rig for, I think, 48 hours before he shipped them. but as you would expect, this kind of pretreating at the factory slows down the production of the speakers and also increases the cost. And I guess that’s why most speaker manufacturers don’t go to the trouble. Anyway, I’m just reporting my own experience.
Yes, the addition of the Air Motion Tweeter in the X series models is supposed to constitute quite a major jump in performance. Whether the use of that tweeter will trickle down to more affordable models is anyone’s guess. But I do trust that Clayton is always cooking up new ideas, so I look forward to seeing whether that (or something else interesting) occurs.
Thanks again for posting.
]]>Comment on Enlightened Engineering, Musical Magic: The Spatial M3 Turbo S Open Baffle Speaker System by Henry Grossbardhttps://stevefolberg.wordpress.com/2017/11/08/enlightened-engineering-musical-magic-the-spatial-m3-turbo-s-open-baffle-speaker-system/#comment-583
Mon, 13 Nov 2017 15:50:14 +0000http://stevefolberg.wordpress.com/?p=4265#comment-583I assume your comparison of the M3 and M4 were both done with the Krell instead of the M4 with the ACT. I am also not convinced about speaker break-in in spite of Eminence simply saying it’s true. After all you would not wait 150 days for your TV or Ferrari to break in and if it were that real I imagine manufacturers would simply have a break-in room to ensure the best arriving sound possible. My last concern is Spatial’s newest speaker dropping the M3/4 tweeter and adopting the AMT and it makes me think there are going to be significant evolution at Spatial going forward. And all this is actually from someone who loves what Spatial is doing.
]]>Comment on Enlightened Engineering, Musical Magic: The Spatial M3 Turbo S Open Baffle Speaker System by Ronhttps://stevefolberg.wordpress.com/2017/11/08/enlightened-engineering-musical-magic-the-spatial-m3-turbo-s-open-baffle-speaker-system/#comment-582
Mon, 13 Nov 2017 02:33:43 +0000http://stevefolberg.wordpress.com/?p=4265#comment-582Believe or not, 20+ years ago, I had a carver c1 preamp which had a sonic hologram circuit included that definitely added some ambiance and depth and could be turned on or off as desired. My understanding is that it performed some form of crosstalk cancellation similar to what goldenear does with its sound bars. My current system/room does a far better job than the carver ever did… but I have to say that the goldenear sound bar is amazing for only being 50″ wide.
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